Creeping towards Understanding
by Silverblacktears
Summary: When Larsa gets sick, someone unexpected comes to his aid.


Creeping towards Understanding 

Silverblacktears.

Summery: When Larsa gets sick, someone unexpected comes to his aid.

AN: I wrote this for a friends birthday, mostly to say sorry I forgot! My bad!

This story takes place after 12 and contains spoilers. Thou Art Forewarned.

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Please Read and Review!

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He could not breathe, his head felt so sore and he was sweating; laying on his side, Larsa realised that he had never quite felt this bad before. His head felt blocked, like something clogged his sinuses and caused little pulses of tight pain to flush through his head. It was times like this that the young emperor missed his mother and even his brother Vayne. There had been times in the past when his power hungry brother had sat with him through raging fevers and it made Larsa even more aware of how alone he was right now.

Burying his head under the covers, Larsa kneaded between his eyes with a knuckle in an attempt to ease how tight it felt there right now. He was still only thirteen years old, for all his maturity he had been forced to grow up too soon and found himself suffering now for it made him miss his mother even more. He lay in a tiny ball in the dark room, allowing himself a very small whimper as his muggy head corrupted his thoughts again.

The door to his private chamber opened and Larsa knew only one man had the permission to do such a thing. "Lord Larsa?" A gruff voice queried; it had been surprisingly easy to integrate Basch into life in Arcadia as Gabranth, people did not even seem to notice the difference. "The counsel is waiting for you."

"Please pass on my apologies," Larsa mumbled, still under the covers. "I will … speak to them later in the week."

Standing by the door, Basch considered the heap of blankets; whilst he had served the young lord for some time now Basch still would not walk into the room proper without invitation or justification. "Are you sick?" He asked.

"It is … just a cold," Kneading the tight spot between his eyes again, Larsa bit against the moan he wanted to give but did not emerge from under the covers.

Basch pulled off one of his gloves, something that took considerable time given how many layers this was but he soon had one hand bare. There was the clink of metallic boots against the floor as Basch crossed to the bed, swept back the top of his covers and placed his bare hand on the youths forehead. "You run a fever," The knight said simply.

"I will be fine," Larsa insisted, pulling his head away and yanking the covers up over his head again.

"Yes My Lord," Basch said, bowing needlessly and heading out.

Desperately, Larsa found himself wishing Basch would come back; the older knight was the only true friend he had and right now he needed that. There were five Judge Masters again, the three new additions had now been in his service for a year but none of them were as close to him as Basch.

Yet, even after all these years he still missed Gabranth; the knight had been at his side since he had been young and nothing could fill that void. Unbidden tears slipped down Larsa's hot cheeks as he tried to clear his nose and constricted throat.

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It was later in the day when Basch slipped back into Larsa's room; the teenager was asleep and the Judge set the tray he carried down on the table. Moving to the en suite he came back with cool water and a cloth; easing back the covers, Basch settled the cloth of the sweaty forehead. For all his experience and wisdom, Larsa was still just a child and right now the red cheeked youth was vulnerable.

Larsa stirred in his sleep and woke, he looked startled but Basch held the cloth in place. "This is no mere cold," The knight said by way of explanation. "Should your fever not break by tomorrow, I will have to call a healer."

The blue eyes closed again, Basch took the cloth and moistened it again; he rose the back of his hand to one of Larsa's cheeks and was shocked to find it was even warmer this his forehead. He was genuinely worried what would happen if Larsa's fever did not break by the next day, the young face creased in pain as Larsa took shallow breaths through his mouth.

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Larsa woke screaming in the middle of the knight; Basch had been dozing himself but woke the instant he sensed his charges distress. "NO! Let me go!" Larsa screamed out, his voice sounded hoarse and tight. Basch moved to restrain him for fear that he would hurt himself; Larsa struggled against him, thrashing out at the Knight.

"Lord Larsa!" Basch barked out over the screams of Larsa's fever dream.

The boy startled awake at the bark, looking at Basch without seeing him; he buried his head into the broad chest without seeming to realise he was doing it, latching onto the knight. Uncertainly, Basch held him tightly into his chest; careful not to hurt him by squashing him against his armour. "Are you awake now, Lord Larsa?" Basch asked in a gentle voice.

Startled, the young man pulled away from him; his usually pale face was flushed as tears trailed over his cheeks. Embarrassed, Larsa dashed away his tears. "Yes," He said in a very small, hoarse voice.

Basch stood, moving to once again moisten the cloth on his lords brow. "We had best change you from those sweaty clothes," Basch said simply, he moved to a chest of drawers and selected pair of silk pyjamas for his charge from the considerable collection; his brother had asked him to watch over the young lord and Basch intended to do that to the best of his abilities.

Moving back to the bed, Basch set the night clothes down and discretely turned his back as Larsa found the energy to change. Basch heard the young teenager slip of his clothes and slowly redress himself. "What did you dream of?"

Larsa said nothing, laying back down in the far too warm bed and closing his eyes. "It was just a fever dream." He insisted.

Basch moved back to the chair he had been seated on close to the bed, watching the boy for a while. "My mother always insisted on nightmares being shared to go away; Noah - that is to say Gabranth - would do so in an instant but I could never bring myself to do it." Blue eyes opened slowly, Larsa listening to every word because Basch had mentioned his former companion, "He would always sleep better for it afterwards, where I would wake again still fighting the nightmares."

"Gabranth never told me about his past," Larsa's thoughtful tones carried to Basch even over the constriction of his nose and throat. "I never even knew his real name," The hint of betrayal was all to obvious to Basch, who tried to think of what to say.

"Noah was angry, he wanted to disregard his former self."

Larsa closed his eyes again and rolled onto his side. "I never realised … how angry he was." He mumbled, his small body shivering despite the fact that Basch had made him change his clothes. "What sort of friend fails to notice so much raging anger?"

There was no answer Basch could give to this, he hunted for the proper words for a long time, "What sort of brother allows his brother to fall so badly?" He asked at last, "Noah was my responsibility and I failed him."

Surprised to hear this, Larsa looked towards Basch again. "Go back to sleep," The Knight insisted; he felt rather embarrassed by having shared so much with Larsa, he had not known him very long after all.

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Despite his other duties, Basch sat with Larsa all night, waiting for his fever to break or for his condition to somehow worsen; he had once again fallen into a doze and woke just before dawn the next morning with a painful neck from sleeping on the chair. Larsa was still asleep and Basch did not want to wake him by checking his temperature but he looked less hot.

Standing up, Basch stretched out his back and neck before moving to close the window; the weather had been cold of late but Basch had felt Larsa would feel better for the fresh air the day before. He just heard the rustle of the fabric behind him and turned to face Larsa, "How do you feel?" He asked of the just awake teenager.

"My head is less tight today,"

Basch crossed back to his side and rested a hand on his forehead, "Your fever has broken," He sounded relieved, "Whatever it was is clearly getting better," He drew back his hand and nodded. "Rest today, I will pass on your regrets to the others."

"Thank you," Larsa replied, now sitting up in the bed, propped amongst the pillows. "Will … you come back later?"

Noticing the insecurity in the young voice, Basch nodded his head. "Yes," He replied, pulling on his gloves and helm before heading to the door. "I will be back at noon," He headed out, Larsa settled back down under the sheets again, taking Basch's advise.

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END

At least for now, I like the relationship between Basch and Larsa so I might go back to it!


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